Audio loggers are known devices that are used for the purpose of obtaining records of voice communication. They have particular use in police stations, hospitals, prisons, brokerage houses and other locations where there is a need to record a conversation or other audio and the time and date thereof. The tapes upon which audio is written are stored for archival purposes. Prior loggers were based on continuous, real time analogue voice signal processing. Although analog loggers worked well, they have the disadvantage of requiring large amounts of tape space for storing audio.
Recently, digital loggers that use digital audio tapes (DATs) have become commercially available. Although these digital audio loggers offer advantages over prior analog loggers in terms of space requirements, they have certain drawbacks. One problem found with prior digital audio loggers is that the DATs do not provide an efficient time related scheme whereby conversations which took place at a particular time can be quickly and reliably retrieved. Another disadvantage is that the prior digital audio loggers do not utilize the maximum amount of recording space available on the DATs. Still another disadvantage of prior digital audio loggers is that the DAT drives used with such loggers experience greater wear because of their use whether or not audio is being written.